Hales Pikop Andropovs Rushin Imperial Stout

Not impressed. Pours a very dark brown almost black color, small brown head. Aroma is rasisins, light chocolate smells, nuts and more dark fruit. The body and flavor is really whats lacking. No complexity in the malts, no deep mysterious big chocolate and coffee tones.

4 ounce sample on tap at the brewery. Anise, roasty, dark chocolate aroma with some grapefruity PNW hops present in the nose as well. I definitely get a fair amount of anise. Opaque dark brown/black color with a small tannish head. Lots of powdered cocoa and anise-like flavors to start, which are followed by mild grapefruity hops. Mouthfeel is a bit gritty and grainy. This imperial stout is not overly complex and lacks depth. A bit of a dissapointment, considering the style.

22oz bottle via trade with acertain - Thanks Andrew! - Pours black and thick without much head. Aromas of cocoa, coffee, and dark chocolate. Flavor is liccorice, cocoa, dark chocolate, molasses. Medium palate but a little dry on the mouthfeel. Not coating like the good Impys are. Just feels like it isn’t put together very well to me. I wasn’t impressed.

Pours a blackish brown color. Aromas of mild espresso/chocolate and roasted malts. Taste dark roasted coffee and bittersweet chocolate with a nice dry finish.

22oz. bottle. Nearly opaque red-brown with a small dark tan head. Rich alefruit aroma with earthy chocolate and molasses. Deep roastiness, some coffeebean astringency. Bitter cocoa flavors manifest later. Some coffee and residual bitter cocoa in the finish. Mouthfeel is meadium heavy, somewhat dry.

Courtesy of Acertain. <P> Aroma was tart and blueberry/blackberry fruity with hints of chocolate. Not too Imperial smelling, but not a abd smell. Pours a deep purple/black with a pinky thin mocha head. Fore is burnt malt and baker’s chocolate. It gets VERY thin through the middle palate wise. Finish is coffee/dark chocolate bitter with a touch of metallic twang in it.

Almost zero aroma, a bit of roasted coffee, but not much of an appearance, with alot of licorice, molasses and soy sauce. This was a very unimpressive stout, which was disappointing to me because I have been excited about wanting to try it for sometime now. Just overly very basic and tame.

On tap at the brewpub. Pitch black with a very nice creamy brown head. Didn’t pick up much of an aroma in the pub. Chocolate malt taste comes on strong, followed by a sharp sweetness. Not bitter at all with a deep coffee finish. Good stuff.